HYDERABAD: Will
Musi river
really be cleaned? Principal secretary (municipal administration) Arvind Kumar, who has sought suggestions from the public on cleaning of Musi, also faced questions from sceptics on whether the government was serious about the process.
Many people responded to Kumar on Twitter where he asked all from
Telangana to provide suggestions, as the department was planning a strategy for an eco-friendly
Musi
riverfront development.
"Please tweet your suggestions to be a part of our action plan asap," Kumar had stated on Twitter.
There was a legitimate question from Vindya Manuri who said, "Please don't mind, I don't believe anything will be done. I have been hearing for 30 years."
The senior IAS officer responded saying: "I share your concern.. this makes us more determined to deliver meaningfully in a defined time frame"
Kumar got several suggestions on how to develop the Musi. One suggested that it should be developed on the lines of Adayar river in Chennai and another suggested it should be like Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. Vamsi Raj, a hydrologist, stated that Musi river starts from
Ananthagiri Hills
near
Vikarabad
and ends near Khammam, before joining the Krishna river. He was appreciative of the plan for the river flowing through the city.
"Protecting this dying river from encroachments and industrial effluents is a task by itself!" he said.
Hyderabadis are excited about the Musi river development plan as could be gauged from another response. "Please start the actual project as soon as possible, having a 'live' river flowing through the city will create a huge forward momentum that will put Hyderabad's glory on the world stage like never before!" said Madhu Batcha.
Another person came with a suggestion on how to remove organic and bacterial contamination, iron and manganese. One Chandramouli Jaddu offered to volunteer for the Musi work in his holidays."Music river front project should ensure fresh water 365 days. Gandipet and Himayatsagar should be linked to Rangareddy-Palamuru and Kaleswarm projects ensuring live Musi river, which boosts water tourism creating local jobs," Prof NLN Reddy of CBIT said.
Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyde...
Read MoreSushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.
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